If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I've posted this on a few other forums but as Blutack asked I may as well post it here as well.

First the disclaimer. I am self taught at leatherwork and may well be doing everything the wrong way. I have read a few books but do not always follow what they say. That said I am pretty pleased with my results and have been asked to document the way I have made the wet formed bags I do and so here is how I do it (not necessarily how it should be done)

We are going to make a wet formed bag. From the same mould I make both shoulder bags and possibles pouches. This tutorial is for the possible pouches but there is little to change for a shoulder bag.

Once finished we should end up with a bag looking like this

First thing to do is cut the piece of leather to wet form the front of the bag. In the following pictures I am working with 2.5mm leather but later we will switch to a front I formed from heavier leather (3.5mm). So what I am saying is you can do this with almost any weight of leather.

So lets cut out a bit of leather for the front. Remember to allow plenty of spare. The size you need will of course depend on the size of your form.
...

So this is how I go about making a leather cover for a notebook, complete with a pen holder. All going well after reading through this you should be able to make one of these.

First a disclaimer. I am new to leatherwork and have only read a book and some of the tutorials on British Blades so my way may well be the wrong way. So far it works but you have been warned

So first step is to catch yourself a cow, alternatively you can but some veg tanned hide. I get mine from www.LePrevo.co.uk . For the main cover and the fastening piece I use Culatta (grade 2) dyed through leather in mid Brown.

So lets begin. The first step is to cut out the cover piece. This is simply a rectangle. The size for yours will depend on your notebook. The notebook I use is an A6 Black & Red book. The book is 148mm high and opened out flat it is 225mm. The leather cover is cut to 165mm x 250mm. This is the size I have come up with after a few different versions. Any smaller and I have had to trim the book cover to get it to fit and any larger and it looks odd.

I mark out the cover using a scratch awl but a pen or pencil will do fine.

The cuts are made with a Stanley knife and a steel rule

With the cover cut out you need to soak it in hot water. Now since this is pre-dyed leather this needs a good soak in hot water. I find it needs to
...